The Dropped Towel Hypothesis
by Kagu-tsuchi-13
Summary: A very bored Penny attempts to liven up doing some laundry and ends up in a very awkward position, one that only a certain theoretical physicist can help help her out of.


Penny sighed as she set her basket of clothes and detergent down and began sticking her dollar bills in the change machine.

The young, very attractive woman could be out at a club flirting with a guy and getting so wasted that she would wake up with a terrible hangover and likely lying next to someone she didn't know, filled with regret. But instead, she was in the laundry room, going to do a very small load of clothes.

She only had her uniform, an old-t-shirt, two socks, and a bra, not even worth the four bucks it would cost to wash and dry this stuff. She really wished Sheldon or Leonard was here, she could just slip it in one of their machines. However, that wasn't an option, because, as much as she couldn't believe it, they both had plans.

Leonard had scored a date for this evening, which he was on at this very moment. What made it even more unbelievable was that the woman had started talking to him first.

Penny had been with Sheldon and Leonard at Costco while Sheldon was buying his groceries for the next three months. She tagged along as she only had a jar of mustard and half a bottle of Wild Irish Rose, neither of which would make a good meal. Due to that, she was stealthily slipping things into Sheldon's buggy while he wasn't looking, things that she needed and she knew that he didn't like. It was wrong, but she only had a few dollars to last till her next paycheck.

As they were checking out and Sheldon was showing the cashier how to reprogram his computer to make the check out process 19 percent more efficient, the woman behind them started a conversation with Leonard.

The vertically challenged experimental physicist could hardly believe it. Penny was forced to watch the man bumble, while the woman, marginally attractive, in Penny's opinion anyway, made some not so subtle hints that she was free and looking tonight. When he failed to pick up on that, she finally just flat out asked him out.

Penny still couldn't believe it. Leonard didn't mention that he was a doctor. And even if he did, it wasn't like he was the kind of doctor that made lots of money and drove a Lexus.

As for Sheldon, well his girlfriend, which Penny thought was a bit of a stretch, had reserved the man for a whole evening. No, they weren't going to do what real couples did. She was just going to ogle him while he played Xbox and give his commentary.

She still couldn't believe that they had been together for so long and hadn't done anything remotely sexual. Sheldon was lucky that he had a girlfriend that practically worshiped him, just about any other woman would have long dumped his ass. Or killed him.

Then again, maybe she was just jealous. The woman hadn't had a date in over a month. She hadn't even gotten asked out in two weeks, which was strange, as she was dressing slutty than normal.

Snapping herself out of her pity party, she dumped her clothes into the washing machine. She really wished that she had some more dirty clothes to justify this trip, however the only other thing she had to wash was what she was wearing.

She paused. No, she couldn't do that. It was too risky. Then again, who would come here at this hour on a Saturday night? If the two biggest nerds in this building had plans, then there was no way that anyone else didn't.

Taking one last look around, she quickly pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it into the washer before she could change her mind.

That actually gave her a rush. Feeling like a naughty teenager, she shimmied out of her shorts and kicked them into the machine. The woman still had it.

There she was, clad only in her white lacy bra and matching lace panties. She really should just stop, but something was compelling her to keep going so she unhooked herself and slipped out of her panties then dropped the garments into the washing machine and started it up.

She couldn't believe it, there she was, completely naked. She hadn't felt this giddy since she was fourteen and in the bedroom of Bobby Sawyer, playing a game of, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours." There really are no losers in that game.

Currently, she was strutting around the room while the buildings out of date washing machine washed her clothes. It was exciting, knowing that someone could walk in at any moment.

The machine finally stopped. The woman quickly took her damp clothes out of the machine then stuck them into the dryer before putting the last of her change into it to start. Another bright side, when she put her underwear back on, they would be nice and warm.

She sat there, legs crossed, wondering what she would do after this. Maybe, take that Wild Irish Rose and watch some adult Internet videos. Right after she figured out Sheldon's wifi password.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the machine stopping. What, her clothes couldn't be dry that fast. She ran over and pulled on the door. It was stuck shut. Shit!

Try as she must, the door wouldn't open. It must be sealed electronically or some technical crap. If one of the guys were here they could help. Not that she would want their help seeing as she was-. Fuck, she forgot, she was naked!

Well, she could get her clothes later. She was about to make a dash upstairs when a look of horror struck her face. Her keys were in her shorts. She didn't take them out before she put them in the washer. They were still in her pocket, in the dryer that she couldn't open.

What was she going to do? She couldn't get her clothes or more importantly, her keys. And she was fucking naked!

Maybe the machine would kick back on, but what if it didn't? She had to do something. Well, desperate times called for desperate measures. Covering up her lady parts, she made a mad dash up the stairs.

Several floors up, a certain theoretical physicist was busy preparing for his special evening with his girlfriend. He had a real treat in store for her. First, she would get the pleasure of watching him play Red Dead Redemption, followed by a brief intermission where they would watch an episode of Gosei Sentai Dairanger, complete with his own commentary. After that, it just got better.

As he was going over his checklist, he heard a very loud, "Sheldon!" Causing the man to nearly have a heart attack.

"Sheldon!" the woman yelled on the other side of the door again, as she banged as loud as she could. She got no response. Was he fucking serious? She would be sure to spit in his burger the next time he came to the Cheesecake Factory. "Sheldon, Sheldon, Sheldon." She quickly knocked nine times.

That was more like it. Sheldon opened the door for his mooch of a neighbor. What he saw caused the man to nearly have a second heart attack. "Good lord, Penny, you are naked!" the man said, stating the obvious.

"Oh really, I hadn't noticed," the blonde said sarcastically, doing her best to cover her indecency.

"How could you not-, oh sarcasm," the man realized. Well, he was getting better.

"As much as I love standing here talking with you in my birthday suit, do you think you could let me in?" the woman asked, growing more impatient by the second. "You know, before I strangle you to death."

The theoretical physicist reluctantly let the indecent woman in, trying his best not to look at her indecency, but it was hard. He had never really noticed how round and slightly firm his neighbor's buttocks were until now.

The woman ran into the bathroom and slammed the door before she risked exposing herself to the man further. After a minute, she came out, a towel safely wrapped around her body.

"Why have you come barging in, unannounced, _naked_?" the man demanded, upset not only at having his evening interrupted, but also causing him to have some impure thoughts, the kind that his mother assured him would cause him to suffer eternal damnation.

"It's a long story," the woman sighed, making sure her towel was secure. "Actually it's not, I took all my clothes off to wash them, the dryer stopped working, I came up here, the end."

Well, that was something. Sheldon had long since given up on trying to understand the female mind, he was a theoretical physicist, not God, which he neither confirmed nor denied the existence of.

His phone buzzed. He pulled it out of it's protective case to check. It was a text from Amy, letting him know that she was on her way over.

"Amy is on her way over, you should leave," the man instructed, not wanting to have to explain a scantly clad neighbor to his girlfriend.

"Fine," the woman agreed, glad that the little fiasco was over. "You have to let me back in though, I don't have my key."

Sheldon muttered something that the woman couldn't make out, but pulled Penny's spare key out of his secret hiding place, which was in a desk drawer under an old Dell XPS computer manual and guided the partially indecent woman back to her messy abode.

Penny followed behind, wondering what kind of evening he had planned for Amy. It was likely something lame, like watching him play video games. Nothing like her own dates, were it was guaranteed that at least one of them would be wearing less clothes then when they started. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it was just two people expressing their feelings for one another through intimate contact. She read that in Cosmo.

As Sheldon opened the door for her, she paused. Ever since she met the man she had long questioned his orientation. Though Leonard had assured her that the he had no interest in men, she had always wondered. Well, in the name of science, she would have to find out.

"Oh by the way, here's your towel," she smirked as she let the garment fall to the ground, giving the man a perfect view of her naked body.

Sheldon nearly had a third heart attack. Even though, this wasn't the first time he had seen his neighbor in a position like this, this was the first time he was getting a good view of it. He felt strange feelings in himself, it was either arousal or he had contacted Malaria.

"Keep it," the man said, taking off before his childlike mind was scarred further.

The woman grinned and picked the towel back up before going inside. That was totally worth it.

Across the hall, the brilliant doctor had fixed himself a drink to calm his nerves. He ordinarily was against drinking, but this was an emergency, so he put an extra scoop of Nesquik in his milk.

"Whew," he said as he downed the chocolatey beverage. That went down hard.

"Sheldon, Sheldon, Sheldon," he heard on the other side of the door.

Managing to regain his posture, the man answered the door, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Greetings Amy, I hope you are ready, because I have a real treat for you," Sheldon said as he answered the door. He was a great actor.

Amy just smiled, blissfully unaware of what went on between her boyfriend and her bestie.

For the next hour, the man did his best to shoot and lasso zombies while trying not think of his neighbor's perfectly round and shaped bosom and the way her posterior shook slightly as she walked.

Amy just sat there the whole time, slightly bored, but glad to be spending this time with her boyfriend. Sheldon may be the perfect specimen of manliness, but it was frustrating having officiated their relationship for over six months and not even having rounded first base. From the stories that her two friends had told her about their own encounters, the woman was missing out on a lot.

Still, she wouldn't complain and risk him terminating the agreement. A sexless relationship with Sheldon was better than no Sheldon at all.

Sheldon looked over at his girlfriend. He just had to do something to get that image out of his brain. Putting the game on pause, he leaned over and before she could react, embraced her in a passionate kiss.

The woman stood there, wide eyed, not at all expecting this from the man who made her wash her hands twice before he would hold them.

He broke them apart, then returned to his spot and resumed his game as if nothing had happened.

"Oh my, what has brought this on?" Amy asked, very surprised.

"Oh, I was drinking earlier, chocolate milk always goes straight to my head," the man said, as if it was a justifiable explanation. That was of course a load of manure, but he would sooner admit that Geology was a respected field of science than admit what he had saw earlier.

The young neurobiologist sat there, confused and happy at the same time. She didn't know what had happened to make her boyfriend act like that, but she hoped that whatever it was that did it would happen again.


End file.
